Hydroponic growing systems employ one or more growing beds in which plants are contained; the beds typically containing a growing medium for supporting the growth of plant roots. The growing bed is supplied with a nutrient solution that provides both the nutrients and water needed for the plants contained in the bed to grow. The nutrient solution must be supplied in such a manner that the roots of the plant are sufficiently aerated to prevent the plants from drowning.
Prior art irrigation systems suffer from either a requirement that pumps be operated continuously, thereby causing high energy consumption, or employ specialized growing beds equipped with automatic siphons to drain the growing bed once the nutrient solution reaches a specified height to provide an “ebb-and-flow” irrigation scheme. While the latter approach reduces energy consumption, it requires specialized vessels to serve as growing beds, increasing the cost and reducing the ability of the operator to select vessels suited to their particular needs or to employ existing vessels to reduce cost.
There is a need for a hydroponic irrigation system that avoids the deficiencies of the prior art, as well as a need for a system that is readily adaptable to allow the user to employ non-specialized vessels for the growing beds.